(Oak Brook, IL) – June 1, 2021 – Nearly a year and a half after the COVID-19 pandemic began significantly impairing the mental health of children and those that care for them, the Illinois Children’s Healthcare Foundation (ILCHF) announces two new initiatives to allocate $8.4 million of its 2021 and 2022 COVID-19 Recovery Funds to children’s mental health. The allocation, issued through two geographic-specific RFPs, one focused on 14 specific zip codes in Chicago, and the other focused on 14 specific counties across the state, will provide grants of up to $150,000 per year for two years. The cost of potentially funding 28 grants of $300,000 each, as well as the evaluation of the two initiatives, will total an estimated $8.6 million.

(Oak Brook, IL) – October 28, 2020 – COVID-19 has increased mental health needs for children and families across the State. Simultaneously, the pandemic has damaged mental health providers, including significant damage to Screening, Assessment, and Support Services (SASS) providers, the 24/7 crisis response programs. Sheltering in place has caused a significant reduction in patient referrals to SASS programs throughout the state of Illinois, decreasing revenue and creating a severe strain on the ability of these agencies to maintain staff and provide critical care and assistance. To aid this mental health system, the Illinois Children’s Healthcare Foundation (ILCHF) has awarded $2,500,000 in total funding to 23 SASS providers working to improve the mental health of Illinois children during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

(Oak Brook, IL) – September 8, 2020 – As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a devastating impact upon the operations and financial strength of all safety-net healthcare providers throughout the state, Illinois Children’s Healthcare Foundation (ILCHF) has awarded nearly $1,100,000 in total funding to 22 Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) working to improve the health of Illinois residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. This investment completes a collaboration initiated by Delta Dental of Illinois Foundation (DDILF), in which DDILF awarded $50,000 grants to 20 FQHCs earlier this year, resulting in the funding of all 42 FQHC applicants and a total investment of $2.1 million.

(Oak Brook, IL) – June 9, 2020 – Today, the Illinois Children’s Healthcare Foundation (ILCHF) announced a new funding initiative to support the Screening Assessment and Support Services (SASS) children’s mental health providers throughout the state of Illinois. The Foundation recognizes the stress that these providers are encountering while responding to changes in the service environment due to the coronavirus pandemic. Recent changes in service provisions and referral volume have caused significant financial stress on SASS programs. SASS is required to maintain staffing levels to be able to respond to mental health crises on a 24/7/365 basis. 

On September 19, 2019, ILCHF hosted a full day symposium focused on integrating mental healthcare into community based settings.
PowerPoint presentations from the symposium are available here.